Mikoto gazed across the sea of roots.
The tree was reminiscent of the giant mushrooms on Terra, it was much more beautiful though. The bland sky of Terra could never compare to the colors that composed the twilight of Gaia; the way the purples and reds mixed with the green of the tree made Mikoto feel . . . strange.
Looking up she could only make out the bottom most layer of branches. Strange creatures flying in the air could be seen weaving in and out of the canopy and flying to the outside edge of the gorge where Mikoto stood. Most of them made high pitched cries that called to the rising twin moons and pierced the darkening sky.
The only things she had seen fly was "the invincible" and the airships from Lindblum and Alexandria.
What were those flying creatures above her?
Confused and irritated by her naivety of Gaia she picked up a stick and threw it as hard as she could at the birds above.
"ugh! Hey you stupid things, fly down here! HEEEY!"
Mikoto stopped and looked around, ashamed at her sudden outburst of . . . what? Was she angry? Why . . . was she angry?
Anger was supposed to stem from something that physically bothered her, and nothing was physically bothering her. She just felt an annoyance at what she was unable to control as well as her lack of knowledge of her surroundings.
She stopped walking and thought for a moment. Maybe she wasn't angry but . . . afraid?
The freedom she had been given when she was taken from Terra . . . scared her.
Garland had always told her what to do, she had never needed emotions because she had always been told what to think and how to act. Why should she feel fear? She knew she had nothing to fear: there was no immediate danger, no monster trying to attack her. She was only afraid because she was in a new and unfamiliar place, but she was afraid nonetheless.
Emotions were irrational and a waste of time, she would be much more efficient without them.
The stick she had thrown, clunked down next to her and woke her from daydreaming.
She stood on the ground next to the abyss of roots and pondered what her next action would be.
After jumping from Beatrix' ship Mikoto had found herself pondering the same question over and over again.
What to do? What to do?
She began slowly walking around the edge of the Iifa tree's crevasse, balancing herself with her arms spread so she wouldn't fall into the seemingly endless hole.
She started to think about Zidane. When he had called her his "little sister" she felt something inside herself; it wasn't love, love was too much of a jump for someone just beginning to harness her emotions, but she knew she felt something.
What had happened to him? Was he still in the tree? Why had he gone back into the obviously dangerous sea of roots? She had heard Kuja calling in her head as well, but hadn't Kuja tried to kill Zidane? She knew better than Zidane, Kuja would try to kill her as long as she posed a threat to him, she wouldn't dare go back and try to save him.
Maybe her two "siblings" had fought and killed each other.
Her aimless ambling had led her to a crossroads. The path she had been taking had led her about a mile from where she had landed after jumping from the ship, and most likely continued on for fifty more miles around the entire base of the tree. There was also a giant root to her right, almost protruding straight up from the ground, that led to the giant tree.
What to do? What to do?
She felt a sensation different from the one she felt when Zidane had called her sister, in fact it was just the opposite. She wanted to do something else than what she was doing but . . . she couldn't think of anything to do. Being on the airship, that was . . . well she liked it. On the other hand, she did not like walking around the tree in big circles.
Boredom was familiar to the young girl; but a taste of sugar begets a craving for honey. She wanted more fun, nothing was happening at the moment.
She wanted an airship now to take her flying around with the creatures up in the tree. Maybe she should go climb around the roots and look at the flying things. Perhaps she could catch one; she would like that. That would be . . . fun.
With this decision, Mikoto stopped in her tracks and climbed onto the gigantic brown root to her right.
Her arms were strong for a fourteen year old genome, she had been training everyday in Terra so she would be ready when Garland sent her to Gaia.
She pulled herself up the almost vertical side of the root and looked at the distance between her and the tree.
"That's pretty far" she whispered.
She stood up and stepped forward, one foot in front of the other. Walking slowly so as not to fall, Mikoto made her way down the dark root. Her footsteps echoed back from the black haze below and seemed to make a slow, musical rhythm which she could use to take her mind off of the long way she still had to go to reach the tree.
Before long, Mikoto had reached a formation of brown roots which had swirled around into a plateau that she could walk on without paying attention to her balance. This was a nice spot.
She stopped for a moment and once again looked up into the dark sky, which was beginning to show pinholes filled with light. Mikoto stared into the night and listened.
The creatures above had quieted their squawking, the only noise was the evening breeze which whipped her tail back and forth.
Suddenly she heard . . . ?
Was that singing?
She had never heard the song before. It sounded like a slow, meaningful tune, but it was being sung by someone who sounded . . . hurt. She moved to the edge of the murky brown plateau.
" Hello?? Is anyone there? Who's singing?"
it continued without faltering: whoever it was, they weren't nearby. But it sounded like the singing was right next to her; it was similar to when Kuja called out to Zidane.
That time, she had heard Kuja's voice in her head; this was the same thing.
She stood with her hand on her head and the other on her hip, the voice sounded familiar but . . . CRACK!
A great force crashed down on her head and forced her to the ground. She felt a warm trickle of blood run down her forehead.
"What!?"
she rolled off her belly and looked behind her. A stroper was waving its wooden arms wildly, the knots at the end of each moving closer to Mikoto's position on the ground.
"That was a cheap shot you bastard!" Mikoto yelled while wiping the blood from her forehead.
She quickly stood and gained her balance. The stroper gave her no time to recover, however, and swung two large branches to sandwich her. Mikoto back flipped out of the way and landed, planting her outspread feet, along with the fingers of her right hand, on the rough ground. The heavy crashing arms came within an inch of her face.
Another huge branch came from behind, but Mikoto heard the whoosh and fell on her chest; the dark branch missed and flew above her head. Once again the stroper swept a branch downwards to smash her body. Mikoto rolled to the left to dodge. The arm swiftly crashed down where she had been seconds ago.
She knew the game now, and decided to take the offensive.
Mikoto pushed herself up and jumped into the air as another branch swept below her feet. This time, Mikoto side flipped and pointed a finger at the arm that had swung beneath her. She felt the heat rise from the center of her stomach, through her arm, and into her outstretched hand. Fire leapt from her index finger, into the air, and onto the branch. The stroper roared in pain as soon as it realized that its arm had been completely burned off.
With full fury it swung another dark arm, but Mikoto saw it coming, did a half turn in midair, and cast fira again.
The branch crashed to the floor as the flame ate through it. She landed and waited for the stroper to strike again, but its arms were being drawn back towards the body. The Stroper stopped moving and groaned a deep growl from the center of its trunk.
Before she realized what it was doing it had cast its spell.
A sharp pain spread from her elbow to her forearm. The stroper had missed her body, but her wrist was covered in ice and felt like it had been dipped in acid. She knelt as quickly as she could and hit her arm on the ground to break the ice off, but the stroper had other plans.
Its arms stretched to their entire length again and began swinging them together to sandwich her for a second time. Mikoto looked up and saw the arms moving towards her kneeling body, she cracked the last icicle from her wrist and ran towards the body of the stroper. Sliding under the attempted attack and standing up next to the body of the giant, she jammed her outspread hand onto the hard outer shell of the beast. Mikoto watched as the solid wall of monster in front of her disintegrated into ash. The stroper's howl of pain diminished to a gurgle after only a few moments. Its midsection had a hole the size of her body. It slowly lowered its arms which had crashed together to squash the girl, and leaned to one side.
The Genome jumped out of the way as the gigantic carcass of the stroper fell into the gorge below. She ran to the edge of the plateau and watched it fall to the ground that was a few hundred feet down.
While she watched the remains of the monster bounce off of the roots below, she noticed a plateau similar to the one she knelt on. Shifting her attention from her former enemy she looked closer at the plateau. Suddenly, she began to notice the singing in her head again, but . . . She swung her legs around and sat down with them over the side of the platform. She thought about it for a moment and realized that the singing had continued in her head throughout the battle with the monster, it had never stopped.
When she looked at the platform below, the singing in her head grew louder. Perhaps the source of the singing was somewhere near that platform.
"Alright then!" Mikoto jumped off the side of the plateau.
The tree was reminiscent of the giant mushrooms on Terra, it was much more beautiful though. The bland sky of Terra could never compare to the colors that composed the twilight of Gaia; the way the purples and reds mixed with the green of the tree made Mikoto feel . . . strange.
Looking up she could only make out the bottom most layer of branches. Strange creatures flying in the air could be seen weaving in and out of the canopy and flying to the outside edge of the gorge where Mikoto stood. Most of them made high pitched cries that called to the rising twin moons and pierced the darkening sky.
The only things she had seen fly was "the invincible" and the airships from Lindblum and Alexandria.
What were those flying creatures above her?
Confused and irritated by her naivety of Gaia she picked up a stick and threw it as hard as she could at the birds above.
"ugh! Hey you stupid things, fly down here! HEEEY!"
Mikoto stopped and looked around, ashamed at her sudden outburst of . . . what? Was she angry? Why . . . was she angry?
Anger was supposed to stem from something that physically bothered her, and nothing was physically bothering her. She just felt an annoyance at what she was unable to control as well as her lack of knowledge of her surroundings.
She stopped walking and thought for a moment. Maybe she wasn't angry but . . . afraid?
The freedom she had been given when she was taken from Terra . . . scared her.
Garland had always told her what to do, she had never needed emotions because she had always been told what to think and how to act. Why should she feel fear? She knew she had nothing to fear: there was no immediate danger, no monster trying to attack her. She was only afraid because she was in a new and unfamiliar place, but she was afraid nonetheless.
Emotions were irrational and a waste of time, she would be much more efficient without them.
The stick she had thrown, clunked down next to her and woke her from daydreaming.
She stood on the ground next to the abyss of roots and pondered what her next action would be.
After jumping from Beatrix' ship Mikoto had found herself pondering the same question over and over again.
What to do? What to do?
She began slowly walking around the edge of the Iifa tree's crevasse, balancing herself with her arms spread so she wouldn't fall into the seemingly endless hole.
She started to think about Zidane. When he had called her his "little sister" she felt something inside herself; it wasn't love, love was too much of a jump for someone just beginning to harness her emotions, but she knew she felt something.
What had happened to him? Was he still in the tree? Why had he gone back into the obviously dangerous sea of roots? She had heard Kuja calling in her head as well, but hadn't Kuja tried to kill Zidane? She knew better than Zidane, Kuja would try to kill her as long as she posed a threat to him, she wouldn't dare go back and try to save him.
Maybe her two "siblings" had fought and killed each other.
Her aimless ambling had led her to a crossroads. The path she had been taking had led her about a mile from where she had landed after jumping from the ship, and most likely continued on for fifty more miles around the entire base of the tree. There was also a giant root to her right, almost protruding straight up from the ground, that led to the giant tree.
What to do? What to do?
She felt a sensation different from the one she felt when Zidane had called her sister, in fact it was just the opposite. She wanted to do something else than what she was doing but . . . she couldn't think of anything to do. Being on the airship, that was . . . well she liked it. On the other hand, she did not like walking around the tree in big circles.
Boredom was familiar to the young girl; but a taste of sugar begets a craving for honey. She wanted more fun, nothing was happening at the moment.
She wanted an airship now to take her flying around with the creatures up in the tree. Maybe she should go climb around the roots and look at the flying things. Perhaps she could catch one; she would like that. That would be . . . fun.
With this decision, Mikoto stopped in her tracks and climbed onto the gigantic brown root to her right.
Her arms were strong for a fourteen year old genome, she had been training everyday in Terra so she would be ready when Garland sent her to Gaia.
She pulled herself up the almost vertical side of the root and looked at the distance between her and the tree.
"That's pretty far" she whispered.
She stood up and stepped forward, one foot in front of the other. Walking slowly so as not to fall, Mikoto made her way down the dark root. Her footsteps echoed back from the black haze below and seemed to make a slow, musical rhythm which she could use to take her mind off of the long way she still had to go to reach the tree.
Before long, Mikoto had reached a formation of brown roots which had swirled around into a plateau that she could walk on without paying attention to her balance. This was a nice spot.
She stopped for a moment and once again looked up into the dark sky, which was beginning to show pinholes filled with light. Mikoto stared into the night and listened.
The creatures above had quieted their squawking, the only noise was the evening breeze which whipped her tail back and forth.
Suddenly she heard . . . ?
Was that singing?
She had never heard the song before. It sounded like a slow, meaningful tune, but it was being sung by someone who sounded . . . hurt. She moved to the edge of the murky brown plateau.
" Hello?? Is anyone there? Who's singing?"
it continued without faltering: whoever it was, they weren't nearby. But it sounded like the singing was right next to her; it was similar to when Kuja called out to Zidane.
That time, she had heard Kuja's voice in her head; this was the same thing.
She stood with her hand on her head and the other on her hip, the voice sounded familiar but . . . CRACK!
A great force crashed down on her head and forced her to the ground. She felt a warm trickle of blood run down her forehead.
"What!?"
she rolled off her belly and looked behind her. A stroper was waving its wooden arms wildly, the knots at the end of each moving closer to Mikoto's position on the ground.
"That was a cheap shot you bastard!" Mikoto yelled while wiping the blood from her forehead.
She quickly stood and gained her balance. The stroper gave her no time to recover, however, and swung two large branches to sandwich her. Mikoto back flipped out of the way and landed, planting her outspread feet, along with the fingers of her right hand, on the rough ground. The heavy crashing arms came within an inch of her face.
Another huge branch came from behind, but Mikoto heard the whoosh and fell on her chest; the dark branch missed and flew above her head. Once again the stroper swept a branch downwards to smash her body. Mikoto rolled to the left to dodge. The arm swiftly crashed down where she had been seconds ago.
She knew the game now, and decided to take the offensive.
Mikoto pushed herself up and jumped into the air as another branch swept below her feet. This time, Mikoto side flipped and pointed a finger at the arm that had swung beneath her. She felt the heat rise from the center of her stomach, through her arm, and into her outstretched hand. Fire leapt from her index finger, into the air, and onto the branch. The stroper roared in pain as soon as it realized that its arm had been completely burned off.
With full fury it swung another dark arm, but Mikoto saw it coming, did a half turn in midair, and cast fira again.
The branch crashed to the floor as the flame ate through it. She landed and waited for the stroper to strike again, but its arms were being drawn back towards the body. The Stroper stopped moving and groaned a deep growl from the center of its trunk.
Before she realized what it was doing it had cast its spell.
A sharp pain spread from her elbow to her forearm. The stroper had missed her body, but her wrist was covered in ice and felt like it had been dipped in acid. She knelt as quickly as she could and hit her arm on the ground to break the ice off, but the stroper had other plans.
Its arms stretched to their entire length again and began swinging them together to sandwich her for a second time. Mikoto looked up and saw the arms moving towards her kneeling body, she cracked the last icicle from her wrist and ran towards the body of the stroper. Sliding under the attempted attack and standing up next to the body of the giant, she jammed her outspread hand onto the hard outer shell of the beast. Mikoto watched as the solid wall of monster in front of her disintegrated into ash. The stroper's howl of pain diminished to a gurgle after only a few moments. Its midsection had a hole the size of her body. It slowly lowered its arms which had crashed together to squash the girl, and leaned to one side.
The Genome jumped out of the way as the gigantic carcass of the stroper fell into the gorge below. She ran to the edge of the plateau and watched it fall to the ground that was a few hundred feet down.
While she watched the remains of the monster bounce off of the roots below, she noticed a plateau similar to the one she knelt on. Shifting her attention from her former enemy she looked closer at the plateau. Suddenly, she began to notice the singing in her head again, but . . . She swung her legs around and sat down with them over the side of the platform. She thought about it for a moment and realized that the singing had continued in her head throughout the battle with the monster, it had never stopped.
When she looked at the platform below, the singing in her head grew louder. Perhaps the source of the singing was somewhere near that platform.
"Alright then!" Mikoto jumped off the side of the plateau.